> > For example around me a "Fire Trail" is tagged as highway=track, and a > "Track" (as in a remote forest/bush walking path) is tagged as > highway=footway/path (probably what you're proposing as "trail". So we need > definitions that can be applied globally regardless of how things are > locally known and across languages. >
You're touching a very important topic here, linguistics. We use different terms in different parts of the globe. And a path has in English a much wider meaning than when translated to other languages, like Swedish. In Swedish we have basically "*väg", *which would translate to road or way, while "*stig" *would translate to footpath/path/trail, basically what we're discussing here, i.e. the narrower definition of path. - bil*väg*: car road (or "car way") - bruks*väg*/skogs*väg*/jordbruks*väg* (= track) - cykel*väg*: cycleway - gång*väg*: footway (= part of the official network) - gång*stig *or simply stig (as it can just as well be used for MTB etc.). My point is that there is a linguistic different between different kinds of "väg", all of which are part of the officially built road/cycleway/footway network vs naturally created paths/trails. The use of highway=path for both these purposes is probably the main confusion for me. Sure, there is a greyzone for cases like purposely built, often urban/semi-urban, "natural paths" or paths that have been groomed to increase their accessibility for visually impaired, wheelchairs, children etc. But as has been mentioned in this thread, those greyzone cases are minor compared to the overall problem of the lack of this distinction. Sorry for having caused a very long, but certainly very interesting and engaging thread on this never-ending topic. If it was discussed this way 12 (?) years ago, things would have been simpler. I understand the consensus as although it would have been good, it's probably too late for a separate highway tag for "trail" or whatever we call it and the only way forward is a subtag like "highway=trail"? Although what we need then is a clear definition of what it is and a way to handle all the cases when this subkey will not be used. For such a definition we probably need people from many different countries chipping in, to make it clear enough for all languages and locations. /Daniel > _______________________________________________ > Tagging mailing list > Tagging@openstreetmap.org > https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging >
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